Within The System
by IncompetentGuy
Summary: When an unknown planet drifts into view of the Origin System, the already disarrayed Tenno are rumbled. As Operator Zanara scrambles to help her allies uncover the mystery of this new, inhabited planet, she has to race against time to protect it from the dominion of the Grineer and Corpus. Meanwhile, mysterious and powerful Huntsmen and Huntresses are interfering in Remnant...
1. The Hidden Planet

**Anyone here watched TennoCon 2018? First we had Plains of Eidolon, then this year Fortuna, and plus we even get Railjack. You gotta admit, DE are going the distance - trying very hard(and succeeding) at becoming the F2P game that puts full-priced AAA games to shame.**

 **Anyway, this is a Warframe - RWBY crossover that involves Remnant(the planet) drifting into the Origin System, post Apostasy Prologue.**

 **Fair warning: Within The System contains major spoilers for Apostasy Prologue and any main story quest that comes before it, along with some very minor spoilers for The Sacrifice.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"You guys ever think there's anything up there?" Ruby asked her team one night.

"What do you mean, 'up there'?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"You know, beyond our world, beyond Remnant... I'm starting to think that, if there's a sun, then there are other planets too, right?"

"As much as that could be true, there's a very low probability of them being inhabited." Blake said. "Just...go to sleep, Ruby."

* * *

Volt sat, studying the chart of the Origin System that appeared before her. By now the Tenno had touched every corner of the Origin System - Pluto, the most distant plant of all the system, and Phobos, One of Mars' moons(It still eluded Volt why it was the Corpus who had the moon, but the Grineer held sway over the planet itself). They had even found the Kuva Fortress, which Volt had the pleasure of being the first to face whatever greater power lurked within.

Then something caught her eye. Between Pluto and Neptune was another planet - the size of Earth.

"What?" This urged Volt to zoom in for a closer look on this strange, unmarked planet. After a while, she realized this planet seemed to have lights on its surface.

It was inhabited.

"Operator?" Ordis asked when Volt suddenly stood up and hastily dashed towards the Communications console. "What's wrong?"

"Ordis, I want you to tell every Tenno out there that there is another planet - uncharted, unmarked, but it has people on it." Volt's fingers flew across the keyboard. "I want explanations for why not a single living being in the Origin System that we know of has seen it until now."

"Yes, Operator. But what about you?"

Volt returned to the Navigation console. "I'm headed there myself. I need to see this planet's surface with my own eyes. Set me a course there, Ordis."

* * *

The Tenno had been in a minor disarray when the Lotus suddenly disappeared, not just from Volt's eyes during an odd mission, but from her position as the Tenno's guide. Ordis cephalons from all Tenno ships pitched in to try and simulate the Lotus so that Tenno can receive the help they needed during missions, but it was Volt who had to take the mantle of actual leadership.

She'd seen everything, after all.

Volt, better known as Operator Zanara, was the first of all Tenno to discover her true self - a living human, controlling their Warframe from afar, through Transference.

And then when she pursued the rogue Teshin through a corner of Lua, the Conclave master led Zanara to unlock her true power as an Operator - and to perform what no other Tenno had done, and defeat the Twin Queens themselves, along with their elite guard.

It was after Volt/Zanara that other Tenno began to discover their own Operators as well. And after the defeat of the Twin Queens, they began to frequent the moving Kuva Fortress, soon sabotaging it so that it could never move another lightyear on its own.

And then the Lotus left. Not one Tenno knew why - all they knew was that Volt had seen what was apparently the Lotus herself, being led away by an Orokin Executor named Ballas. Their guide and mentor had gone silent since then.

So when they discovered what seemed to be a new planet, only now visible on the Star Chart, the Tenno were unsurprisingly rumbled.

* * *

Volt leapt out of her Liset and onto the ground of a forest, her combat HUD activating within her helmet.

"Ordis, what have we got?" She asked her ship Cephalon. "Any information on what's on this planet?"

Ordis had been hacking into any information databases he could find on this planet, with a little help from other Tenno.

"Yes, Operator, it seems that this planet is indeed inhabited, by 3 dominant species - humans, similar to the Corpus and certain Grineer members, another type of humans with apparently...bestial differences...known as Faunus."

"Humans plus animals?" Volt said. "Sounds weird...go on."

"The third and last species, Operator, is something the other inhabitants call "Grimm". Similar to the Infested, they are found in almost any corner of the planet that isn't already taken by the humans or Faunus. Very hostile, I should add."

Volt suddenly heard a growl from behind her. Soon she found herself surrounded by beasts, resembling the Infested Chargers, albeit colored black and white, with a bit of red and yellow, and looking a bit more like actual animals compared to the Infested amalgamations.

And they looked ready to kill. No doubt about it, this was the "very hostile" Grimm.

"Ordis, thanks for your help, but I've got a problem I need to deal with right now, and I would appreciate if you can find me the nearest inhabited settlement with humans that I can go to." Volt hastily spoke, drawing her Dex Sybaris.

Her map was updated with the familiar yellow objective sign, which said "Human settlement, 4 km" As the first Beowolf leapt at the Tenno, it was quickly gunned down among with three others before Volt's gun had ran out of ammo. Finding no time to reload, Volt quickly drew her Akbolto and shot two of the Grimm who were charging simultaneously.

The Grimm had calmed only for a while, and Volt had enough time to reassess her situation. This pack of Grimm had apparently 11 Beowolves, and now 5 remained standing.

If she could reduce this pack to an easily manageable number, maybe she could scan one or two of them so that her fellow Tenno wouldn't be going in as blind as her.

But then they all charged at the same time. "Now what do I-you know what, screw this." Volt muttered to herself before unleashing a stream of electricity from her Warframe's arm, shocking and eviscerating completely all but one of the Grimm, larger the the rest of its pack, and certainly more ferocious-looking, but now maimed.

Fortunately, Volt did get a Codex scan on this one before she put it down with one of her Bolto arrows. But before she could leave, one of the bushes shook, prompting Volt's attention. Another growl caused Volt to draw her Dragon Nikana in response, ready to slice anything that dared leapt at her.

The twelfth Beowolf that emerged from the foliage fell swiftly. Volt noticed one thing after she observed these beasts for a while: they dissolved shortly after death, much like enemies the Tenno silently killed during stealth.

"That might be a hindrance if someone wanted to do a little research on these creatures." Volt thought as she deployed her Archwing to make her way toward the human settlement. "Though more importantly, our weapons seem to be effective here."

She paid no attention to the four blue dots that appeared behind her on her mini-map as she flew away.

* * *

"Guys! I think it was here!" Ruby shouted out to her team.

During a patrol through Emerald Forest, a group of guards reported seeing commotion at a point within the Forest, which team RWBY had taken upon themselves to investigate.

"Bullet marks, cuts on some of these trees, lots of fallen leaves..." Blake said when she, Weiss and Yang arrived at where Volt/Zanara had had her first encounter with Remnant's resident Grimm. "There was definitely a fight here."

"I'm pretty sure I heard the sound of electricity." Yang added. "Think it's another Huntsman or Huntress?"

"Yang, think about it - if they wanted to purge the Grimm here or find some kind of hidden treasure or whatnot, wouldn't they have sent in a whole team?" Weiss replied. "But the guards back there insisted that there was only one Hunter, and from what I heard before the fight ended, I'm inclined to agree."

"But, the only Hunter we know who uses electricity in combat is Nora." Ruby chimed in. "And if team JNPR have actually left Beacon, I'll give up cookies for a month!"

"OK, OK, whatever." Weiss sighed. "The point is, someone was here, in Emerald Forest, and it's not anyone we know of. Thing is, though, I'm not sure anyone would really have incentive to clear out this place, since there are a lot of other more important things to do, I'm sure, and the Grimm are already a dying breed here anyway. Which gives us a question: Who would do this?"

* * *

"Heavily reinforced outpost." Volt thought as she crouched upon an oversized tree, surveying the foothold the natives had set up in the Forest. "Makes sense, those Grimm apparently attack anything they see that isn't one of their kind. Extremely hostile."

Beyond the base, she could see large buildings in the horizon. "That must be a city."

"Operator, I have gathered more information on this planet." Ordis' voice rang in Volt's ear.

"Oh go on then, I've got loads of time."

"The natives appear to call the planet 'Remnant', so that's what I put on the Starchart. There seem to be four different inhabited regions, and the one you're in, Operator, has the name 'Vale'."

"Another important piece of information, Operator, regards the fighters on this planet. They seem to have trained their own set of skilled combatants, known as Huntsmen and Huntresses-"

"Just call them Hunters, Ordis."

"Alright, alright, Hunters- consisting of humans and Fauna dedicated to fighting the Grimm. Interestingly, these people have a special power or affinity unique to each person, which defines their style of fighting. Just like us, Operator - Tenno."

"Well then, that means we can blend in a bit more easily, but we might have to tread carefully regarding our relationships. Anything else, Ordis?"

"Not much else, Operator, but I would like to inform you that Operator Lucy is headed towards your position."

"Ah, yes, Ivara. Well, thanks for all the information, Ordis, and it would help if you kept me updated. And tell Lucy to-" She interrupted herself when she saw a group of four females approaching the gate of the base. "Uh, tell Lucy I'm waiting for her."

Then a screech punctuated the air - Volt and everyone in the outpost turned their heads. Volt looked up, and saw a pack of birds, with a similar appearance to the Grimm she had fought earlier, descending upon the outpost.

"OK...any anti-air lying around?" She thought.

* * *

As expected, shots were fired.

"Where did they all come from?" Weiss yelled, conjuring a barrier of ice to shield herself from a barrage of Nevermore feathers.

"The Nevermores in particular are becoming more daring lately," One of the guards replied. "and this is the third time already! Keep firing!"

"Is Emerald Forest ever going to be clear of Grimm?!" Yang shouted.

The outpost guards and team RWBY fought hard to fend off the Nevermore attack, and soon there were only two left, circling and dodging shots, and attempting to dive at their targets repeatedly. Then...

"GAH!" Crescent Rose went flying out of Ruby's arm, the Huntress herself having sustained a hit by a feather on her hand. "Oh no!" She quickly scrambled for her dropped weapon, but a Nevermore was bearing down on her.

"Ruby, LOOK OUT!" Weiss shouted.

But the Nevermore that was diving at Ruby suddenly let out a loud screech, and fell hard on the ground near Ruby. The other Nevermore was dropping as well.

"Woah, nice shot, guys! Who did that?" Ruby cheered after she managed to pick up her scythe. But her tean, along with the guards, were not looking happy, or relieved, but bewildered.

"Ruby, I don't think you noticed, but..." Blake said after a moment's silence. "Those shots came from outside the base."

* * *

"I just saved your asses." Volt muttered to herself as she stowed away her rifle. "Keep that in mind."

She checked her Menu device - Ivara had arrived in orbit around Remnant.

"Lucy," Volt said into her radio. "You there?"

"Copy."

"Listen, hold your Liset. I'm going to mark a settlement densely populated by neutral humans. Land there, and try to give me any useful info you can find, OK? A few important things: Do NOT open fire. Try to stay in Operator form so you blend in, or otherwise use that ability where you can go invisible, got it?"

"Understood."

Volt paused and thought for a while. There really was no point in hanging around, but the 4 Huntresses she'd seen could provide her with some useful information.

"Ordis, I'm going to mark four humans for you, and I need you to track them." Volt muttered into her radio as she slid down from the tree. "I'm going to follow them in my Archwing."

"Roger that, Operator."

* * *

 **Well then, now that's over with, this is going to be a little side project of mine - an intermission between chapters of Bring A World Alive, I suppose.**

 **That reminds me, I haven't even released the Siege Division Attacker prologue yet...darn.**

 **Stay tuned!**


	2. Contact

**To clear a few things up:**

 **\- There are almost a hundred active Warframe/Operator combos in the Within The System universe. How, you ask? Imagine each skin for a Warframe being a Tenno in itself (for example, Excalibur is separate from Pendragon Excalibur, but both use the same Warframe - albeit with different looks - and have a different weapon loadout.)**

 **\- Tenno/Grineer/Corpus technology is beyond Remnant's level, so if Volt encountered a human, she would likely be considered an alien, unless in Operator form. Same goes for any of the other factions.**

 **\- Holy crap, 200 views, 4 favs, 14 follows and 5 reviews in just 3 days...**

* * *

"Ugh," a White Fang member muttered, stacking a metal box on top of another. "once I'm done with this, I'd love to take a nap."

"Don't rush," His buddy responded. "There's going to be an officer inspecting the Dust, see if they're ready for transport. Better make haste, but not a mess."

It was evening. The desolate warehouse in which the White Fang were about to move out of was slowly being deserted, but still relatively crowded - dozens of soldiers patrolled the interior and gates, many waiting to leave.

Finally, the two White Fang grunts finished their task of organizing the boxes of Dust, and went outside to prepare other things...having not checked carefully the small depot in which the Dust was stored.

Ivara emerged after the grunts had left the room. Holding up her Dread, her headlight on, she quickly scanned the room for any other notable objects, before making her way toward one of the metal boxes.

"Dust, hm..." She muttered to herself, stowing away her bow to open the box. "What could it be, that would make these guys have to store and transport such a large amount?"

Ivara slowly lifted the lid of the box and illuminated its contents. Inside was a large amount of red, blue and yellow crystals. She picked one up and took out a Codex Scanner.

"Well, let's see what this whole Dust thing is about...oh...my."

The silence that had filled the room since the White Fang grunts left the room became clearer than ever. Then...

"Ordis?" Ivara said into her radio. "I'm going to tag a box currently inside a hot zone. I am going to get it out of there, and when I do, I need you to bring the Liset down and pick it up, along with me. Make it quick, OK?"

"Roger that, Operator." The Cephalon's voice rang in reply.

Ivara picked up a red Dust crystal for closer examination.

"Look at this..." She thought. "These are literally elements, stuffed inside such a neat package... this one is red, must be fire...Oh, Zanara will love this."

Suddenly, she heard a shuffling sound outside, and the unmistakable sound of footsteps. Instinctively, she dropped the Dust crystal back into the box, and went into Prowl.

Four people entered the room. All four people had on their recognizable White Fang armor, though one seemed to had a more complex-looking mask, whom Ivara guessed to be the officer.

"Everything in order?" He grunted.

"Yes, of course..." One of the soldiers replied. "Ready for transport. I can't wait to leave this place, bit too creepy for me..."

"The transport will arrive soon, no need to panic." The officer said.

As the four White Fang members looked around, Ivara sunk closer to the wall and crate hiding her from sight. She was invisible, sure, but Lucy was one to take precautions, especially in stealth.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the officer turned to leave the room. But her relief was short-lived, for one of the grunts suddenly said, "Wait a minute, that crate wasn't open before...", indicating the box Ivara had touched.

"What?" The officer rounded.

"Ah, damn," Ivara thought, "I've gotten myself into a bit of a tight spot."

* * *

The Valerian CCT tower stood proudly in the heart of the city. People bustled about, some entering the tower itself to make calls or get information. Among them was a young woman, to whom the tower seemed an unfamiliar sight.

"If this is where the natives keep all their information," She thought to herself. "then I've hit the jackpot."

She entered and was greeted by a receptionist, who, to her surprise, was holographic.

"Welcome to Vale's Cross-Continental Transmission Tower!" The receptionist beamed. "How may I help you?"

"Well..." The young woman started. "I'm here to...check up on news, see if I can get a bigger picture of Remnant in my mind...I'm kind of new here, actually."

"Very well," The receptionist started typing something on her computer (a confusing action, since she was a hologram). "before I find a suitable computer terminal for you, I just need a quick bit of information...what's your name?"

"Er...Zanara Relie."

"Alright then, Miss Relie, third floor, terminal 07."

"Thanks." And Zanara shuffled off to the elevator.

The interior was quite different from what she had expected of a large hub of information. Weaving through the people and the small bits of machinery populating the room, Zanara managed to locate her terminal.

"Terminal 7...alright, let's see..." And she took out her scanner, ready to learn about the world of Remnant.

* * *

"The hell do you mean?" Another one of the White Fang grunts asked the one who had just spoke up. "What if you just _forgot_?"

"I swear, someone else touched that box!" The second soldier replied. "It wasn't like this when we left! Wasn't it?" He shot the third grunt a look.

Ivara looked up. The three soldiers and the officer were all clumped up together. This was her chance.

Steadying her Dread, Ivara silently shot a Sleep Arrow into the center of the room - and immediately the four White Fang members slumped, falling asleep.

She thought quickly. Volt had warned her not to kill anyone, but from the looks of it, this was an illegal activity...

"These four won't be missed," She decided, as she unsheathed her Fang( **s?)** and permanently dispatched the White Fang members.

Once all four were down and moved no more, Ivara dragged their bodies into hidden corners, before replacing the lid on the box of Dust, glancing at her radar, and silently carrying her cargo outside.

"If we can integrate this into our weapons..." She thought as she sneaked out. "...Oh man, just you wait, Mesa...see how your Regulators compare to _this_..."

* * *

"Ordis, do you copy?" Zanara muttered into her radio earpiece after she left the CCT tower. "I'd like a status update on all Tenno on or orbiting Remnant."

"Yes, Operator." came the Ship Cephalon's reply. "Mesa reports currently orbiting Remnant, and Knave Loki is on the way."

"Excellent. Ordis, tell Mesa to land and explore a region called Atlas, just north of Vale. Not the Warframe, Ordis," Zanara added quickly. "the region. And ask Knave Loki to scout the eastern region of Mistral."

"Roger that."

The starry evening sky glittered with a few stars, and a extremely odd sight...

"What the...?" Zanara stared up at the moon. There seemed to be a small part of it having shattered and broken apart from the moon itself. Zanara had never seen a weirder sight - even Lua was still full, though slightly irregular shaped due to the golden rings surrounding it.

She wandered around for a while, thinking about Remnant's whereabouts - how did it suddenly appear, when no one had even glimpsed it before, and whether the natives were aware of this prospect - and plotting her next course of action. What to do next? There seemed to be a location nearby named Beacon Academy, where young Hunters were trained...perhaps she could drop by.

Zanara's thoughts were interrupted by the unmistakable sound of gunfire. Startled, she looked around. There was no immediate danger, though flashing lights nearby indicated a commotion. She looked around, then returned into her Warframe, and climbed up a nearby building, to investigate whatever fight was going on.

* * *

Winter Schnee was confused, baffled, and slightly irritated. Her fellow Atlesian military weren't in any doubt as to why. The White Fang were becoming more active lately, which put a lot of pressure on the Valerian and Atlesian army to clean them up. Dust were being stolen all over the place, with heists in Vale led by the notorious, hardened criminal Roman Torchwick. To top it all off, Atlas' biggest problem weren't the White Fang - it was the Grimm. Perhaps inspired by the Faunus terrorists' increasing activity, the Grimm began to initiate more sieges.

To make matters worse, Gridlock Outpost, a small base on the Atlesian border, had been very recently overrun by a large horde of Grimm. Winter would have sent people to retake it, but they were busy with the White Fang.

"Worst damned luck I've ever had," Winter muttered angrily to herself while pacing her room. "Never thought the attacks would be so perfectly synergistic..."

Winter stopped, standing at the window. "If only we could get Gridlock back...but that was a faint hope now..."

She'd only turned away for a few seconds when she heard a slightly robotic voice. "You were saying?"

Startled, Winter turned around. Sitting on the edge of the window was an armored Huntress wearing what looked like a blue coat and a yellow blindfold. "I heard Gridlock in there," She continued. "Is that like, some superweapon or something?"

Winter managed not to panic, slowly and calmly making her way backwards to where her weapons were. "W-who are you?"

The Huntress dropped into the room. "You can call me Mesa. Fastest guns you'll ever see. I can shoot faster than my own shadow, or at least that's what I like to tell myself."

"How..." Winter was stuttering a bit now. "How did you get past security?"

"Good question. You should be asking your own men that one." Mesa said, laughing softly, but stopped when she noticed Winter's hands slowly going towards her sheathed sword. Mesa immediately raised her hands in mock surrender as a response. "Whoa, whoa, easy there, I mean no harm! Really!"

Winter paused, but still looked tense. "What do you want then?"

"I, uh..." Mesa thought hard. "I wanted to help...do something big."

"By sneaking into the private room of an Atlesian Specialist?"

"Er...Whatever, point is, you mentioned something about Gridlock?"

There was an eerie silence after Mesa's words. Mesa could tell that Winter was considering whether to trust this stranger or not. Then, to Winter's surprise, Mesa drew her Twin Viper Wraith...and dropped them. She repeated this for her Vectis.

"There...you're armed, I'm not." Mesa said. "Can we talk now?"

Winter relaxed a bit. "Oh, alright then...I mentioned Gridlock Outpost, which was one of our bases near the border, was recently overrun by Grimm. It houses a large amount of Dust, which we no longer need but wouldn't mind getting back, but...the location of the outpost is crucial."

"Alright, then, if you would kindly give me the coordinates for Gridlock Outpost, I'll just..." Mesa pointed outside with her thumb.

Winter raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? The Grimm presence at the outpost is very heavy, and-"

"I know what you're going to say, and, don't worry, I can handle it."

"I'll..." Winter glanced at the door. "I'll think about it. Don't worry, I'm not going to report you," She said as she opened the door and walked outside. "Just stay here, OK?"

Mesa shrugged.

* * *

"This is Squad Zeta 17, requesting backup at Siren Harbor! We're in contact and outnumbered by White Fang - we won't last much longer!" The Valerian soldier hurriedly muttered into his radio.

A heated firefight was taking place at the harbor between White Fang members trying to escape with stolen Dust, and the Valerian guards sent to intercept them. Unfortunately, the White Fang were overwhelming, and showed no signs of letting up.

"Just keep shooting!" The Valerian squad leader yelled at his teammates, but with less traces of hope then there seemed to be a few minutes ago. Things were looking grim.

"We're not going to make it!" One of the soldiers cried.

"We will, and don't go giving up so early, we'll survive this!" The squad leader replied, sounding desperate.

But the battlefield was suddenly lighted up, and several of the White Fang shooters were electrocuted by purple lightning, falling hard. An armored figure landed in the center of the field, and pulled out what appeared to be dual pistols.

"What the-" The Valerian squad leader was taken aback upon seeing this. "H-hold your fire!"

The guards immediately lowered their weapons and took cover, some peeking out, as the figure began trading shots with the White Fang, moving and jumping with noticeable agility, and dispatching the terrorists with the speed and skill parallel to that of a Huntsman or Huntress.

Volt, obviously, did not have too much difficulty defeating the first wave of White Fang. But then more shooters emerged from the WF ship, ready to defend their precious cargo from this sudden intervention.

She didn't have time for this. Volt turned back towards the Valerian soldiers, yelled "Get down!" and curled up mid-air, eventually unleashing a huge wave of electricity, shocking and downing all but one formally dressed redhead man, with a black bowler hat and a white suit.

"Ugh, kids these days..." He frowned, brandishing a cane. Roman Torchwick pointed his Melodic Cudgel at Volt, and the end of the cane flipped out to reveal crosshairs...

Volt barely had enough time to leap, avoiding the flare shot at her, and landed in front of Roman, immediately drawing her Dragon Nikana. The two clashed cane and blade, staring each other down.

"Leader of this heist, I suppose?" Volt said.

"And who might _you_ be then?" Roman retorted calmly. "Never seen you around these parts, have I?"

The electric blast that Volt shot knocked back both fighters with great force. Volt prepared to charge at Roman again, but was interrupted when one of the Valerian soldiers shouted, "Heads up!"

Volt looked up, and barely saw a Bullhead aircraft descending before she had to roll out of the way of a missile. Before long, the Bullhead's doors quickly opened to admit Roman, and began to ascend again.

"Well, better luck next time I suppose," Roman said as the Bullhead's doors closed. "but it's been quite the experience fighting ya, Lightning!"

Volt was about to call down her Archwing to pursue, but seeing the Valerian reinforcements arrive and the news helicopter descend, thought better.

"Everyone, spread out and search the field, especially the ship." The squad leader ordered. "Recover anything you can. And you..." He turned to Volt. "Thank you, whoever you are."

Volt merely nodded, then walked away from the aftermath of the battle she'd just taken part in.

"Ordis?" She said after she had climbed up to a rooftop far away from the recent carnage. "Anything new?"

"Why, yes Operator. Our scanners recently detected a high concentration of Dust inside what appears to be a small base bordering Vale and Atlas, resting on the Atlas side. This outpost appears to have been occupied by military previously, but is now filled with Grimm."

"Guess the soldiers got driven out. Anything else?"

"Not much of notice, Operator. I recommend that the next course of action would be to help retake the outpost - perhaps we can secure some of the Dust for our own. Mesa seems to be discussing this with a high-ranking Atlesian officer."

Volt didn't bother to question why and how Mesa was doing this. "Alright, Ordis, send down the Liset, I'm returning to the Orbiter for a bit of rest."

"Understood, Operator."

Volt looked up at the sky, her eyes resting once again on the shattered moon. She only knew one thing for sure - Remnant was very tiring on her indeed.

* * *

"What's going on?" Yang asked when she emerged from the bathroom to spot Ruby, Weiss and Blake huddled around the TV in their room.

"Yang, you need to see this." Blake replied.

"What is it?" Yang joined her team in front of the screen. On it was a Breaking News section, with the reporter standing at what appeared to be Siren Harbor. "With the recent increasing activity of the White Fang, it seems some Huntsmen and Huntresses have taken it upon themselves to assist the military in any way they can. Here, we have Lieutenant Dennis Black, as he tells us more about the powerful, anonymous Hunter to saved his squad. Dennis?

"Thanks, Lisa, See, I'm grateful for these kinds of people. Shoulder responsibilities no different than ours - perhaps even bigger - so you don't often see a Huntsman or Huntress pop in and help us out in cases like this. We were trying to intercept an escape attempt by the infamous Roman Torchwick - no one's ever caught him, they say he's a Huntsman himself - but we were outnumbered, overwhelmed. Then this armored Hunter shows up, couldn't really tell their gender, and started to electrocute and shoot all the White Fang members pinning us down. I think they had a katana, too. Engaged in a short duel with Roman himself."

A blurred picture of the fight appeared on the left of the screen, showing the titular armored Hunter shooting the White Fang with two pistols, as the focus returned to Lisa Lavender.

"That is definitely not Nora." Ruby said after looking more closely at the picture.

"The incident at Siren Harbor has surely shaken things up." Lisa said. "The pictures we were able to take of the battle were far and few in between, but it seems this Hunter is using gear that appears to be ahead of our time. This is, however, not the most important matter, as tons of Dust, weapons and other materials were discovered inside the White Fang ship, suggesting a smuggling operation..."

After the news flash had ended, Weiss turned off the TV, and the members of team RWBY all shot each other looks. "Well," Weiss said after a period of silence. "That brings us one step closer to finding out who messed up Emerald Forest - we now know what they look like. But that's all we got, isn't it?"

"That's great, Weiss..." Ruby said, yawning. "...but I'm really sleepy right now. Can we turn off the lights now?"

* * *

 **And that's that! Now let me just check...HOLY CRAP, OVER 3K WORDS?!**

 **Thanks so much for the overwhelmingly positive reception you gave this story so early on (see above)! One thing: I'd appreciate it if you left a review, since it 1)keeps me going, 2)might tell me were I messed up. Next time, we head to Gridlock Outpost!**

 **Stay tuned!**


	3. Turning Point

**OK, true confession – I've run into a bit of a block with Bring A World Alive. Don't know where to go after that Strategy lesson. So instead, I'm focusing all my energy into Within The System, which I still have loads of ideas for. Keep up the momentum, you know?**

* * *

"Zanara, you won't believe what I just got."

Volt had just received this message from Ivara not long after she arrived at her Orbiter.

"What is it?" Volt replied.

"Just got off with a bit of Dust – I think it was from some smuggling operation or something. People there were wearing black uniforms with white armor, and Grimm-like masks as well..."

Volt suddenly remembered the White Fang members she'd defeated back at Siren Harbor. "Oh, never mind that," She said. "what about the Dust, then?"

"Well, you won't believe this, but I've just discovered that this...Dust thing is literally power. It's crucial to the natives' lives, and they use it to enhance their weapons as well..."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, I'm serious. Just tried augmenting a bit of fire Dust on my bow, tested it out in the Simulacrum. Even Kuva Heavy Gunners burn instantly to that stuff. If it works for them, I figured, it would work for us too. I was right."

"Lucy, that's such a great thing to know..." Volt paused, thinking of the possibilities. Dust came in many forms and elements – the Tenno could use this to their advantage, make their weapons more devastating than they already are…

Her thoughts were cut off by another beep. "Hang on – that's Mesa calling. What's up, March?"

"Oh, hey Zanara – my Ordis told me that your Ordis told you about a place called Gridlock Outpost?"

"Yeah. High dust concentration, and also Grimm. What about it?"

"I've just spoken to Atlesian Specialist Winter Schnee. She says the Atlas military doesn't have the resources to retake it themselves, but she's given us the green light. I told her I'll think about how she can repay the favor, if I wanted her to."

A light bulb flashed in Ivara's head. "Hang on, guys – did she mention anything about their current economy? Their Dust supply?"

Both Volt and Mesa raised their eyebrows at this, but Mesa said, "Um, she did say she misses the Dust packed away at the outpost...but the army is fine without it."

"So that means Atlas has more than they need. Think we can take a bit of that Gridlock stockpile for ourselves?"

March looked confused beneath her Transference. Zanara simply said, "I suppose that's fine…we do want to leave a part for the Atlas military, since it used to be theirs, after all...But then again, I don't think they'd notice if we took a bit. Alright, not bad. Anything else?"

"One thing," Mesa asked. "How are we going to do it?"

"Mmm...I'm not sure, I think just going in guns blazing is only almost enough...we need to wipe out the Grimm population inside that outpost as quickly and efficiently as possible. I'll ask Knave Loki..."

* * *

"Think we can do it quiet?" Knave Loki asked his squad as they silently approached Gridlock Outpost.

"The Grimm have got regular senses," Volt explained. "but they can also sense negative emotions, and from far away too. Just a heads-up, shouldn't be a problem. anyway, I reckon we can sneak and kill our way through the place, but considering the Grimm's aggressive behavior, eventually it might be a better idea to just set off the alarm."

"How many of them do you think there are?" The second question came from Mesa.

"I'm guessing at least a hundred, if not more." Volt replied.

The 4-Tenno fireteam consisting of Volt, Mesa, Ivara and Kanve Loki would be the ones to exterminate the Grimm from Gridlock Outpost, clearing the way for a small Atlesian recovery crew to arrive and start repairs. Winter Schnee had initially doubted their skill, but decided that, considering the Tenno's advanced gear, it was worth a try.

"Have you told anyone about our true identities yet?" Volt suddenly asked her squad.

"No..." came the replies. "why?"

"Good, I don't want the natives to know that we're from other worlds. They look and sound like they've been alone in space for decades, centuries even. I want to keep it that way, for as long as possible, or at least until Remnant's people are ready for the truth."

* * *

The blaring sound of the alarm startled the wandering Grimm, looking around to see what was going on. Red lights flashed - the first time they had happened in Gridlock Outpost for a while - and Beowolves and Ursa were running hither and yon.

It soon became apparent why, as one of the doors leading into the great generator room burst open, revealing four armored Hunters and dozens of dissolving Grimm corpses.

"We've reached the generator!" Volt yelled, shooting down two Beowolves. "Clear this area, I'll see what I can do to restart it!"

The Grimm seemed hellbent on stopping this, but the Hunters were such power that any Grimm that was seen was immediately killed, be it by blade, bullet, arrow or even electricity. Even the Beowolf Alpha was hesitant to engage in combat with the Hunter cell, skirting nervously around the edge of the fight, while others rushed at them only to be quickly halted.

Volt noticed the Alpha, withdrew her Dex Sybaris and unsheathed her Dragon Nikana. "You're wise beyond your years I see..." She said. "You must be the Alpha! DIE!" And, leaving a trail of lightning behind her, Volt charged.

The Nikana's blade met the sharp claws of the Beowolf Alpha. After moments of fighting, in which the Tenno were heavily overwhelming the Grimm, Volt discharged a stream of electricity to stun the Alpha and dispatch the rest of the Grimm inside the room. The Alpha remained still, the shock not having much effect on him, but the Tenno always had some trick up their sleeves...

Loki appeared in front of Volt, staring down the Beowolf Alpha, and then suddenly all was dizzy - for Loki and the Alpha had swapped places. Before it could react, Volt drew her blade to the Grimm's neck.

"The Lotus sends her regards." Volt whispered, as the now separated head and body of the Beowolf Alpha disappeared into a mist of black smoke.

"We've got another huge wave coming!" Mesa called out, indicating the large door that the Tenno had entered through. "Volt, lay down a Barrier, I'll deal with 'em!"

As the new wave of Grimm flooded in from outside the generator room, Volt's electrical barrier appeared in front of the cell - soon, all four Tenno had had their strongest guns held - Mesa summoning her Regulators, Ivara equipping her Artemis Bow.

"Fire!" Volt yelled, and the rushing Grimm disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared.

"Clear!" Mesa announced, still holding her Regulators.

"Clear!" Loki said, looking the other way.

"Is that all of them?" Ivara asked.

"The Grimm have broken ranks," The voice of the simulated Lotus began to speak again. "and are now fleeing the sector. Well done, Tenno, get to extraction."

"That's it, then." Volt sheathed her Nikana. "I need the three of you to spread out and search the facility, see if there are any stragglers. I'll try to do something about this thing. Also..." She tapped into her radio. "Schnee, you're clear to move in."

* * *

"We've scoured the outpost up and down, captain," The Atlas soldier reporting to Winter said. "and it's all clear. Whoever these four are, captain," He indicated the Tenno. "they did a really good job."

Winter's face remained straight, but a hint of a smile appeared on the corners of her mouth. "Very well. Please continue your clean-up. Now..." She turned to the Tenno. "I...cannot simply describe my gratitude using words alone. Simply put, you have been of powerful, and rather timely assistance for Atlas. Thank you."

Volt bowed shallowly, with the other Tenno following suit. Loki and Ivara then made to leave, but Winter spoke up again. "Wait! There is one thing...if there's anything we can do to return the favor..."

"Well..." Mesa started. "We could use a bit of Dust at this point, and since this outpost is overflowing with one... let's be modest, we can have one moderately sized crate, and you keep the rest. Does that sound good, Winter?"

"What? Oh..." Winter raised an eyebrow. "Are...are you sure that's all?"

"That's all, yes." Volt replied. "We're short, but not that short...and besides, you're the official military, you need the Dust more than we do."

There was a period of silence, before Winter said, "Ah, well, OK, that can be easily arranged. Just follow me..."

"Loki, Ivara, you can leave if you want to." Volt said, turning to the two respective Tenno. "Mesa and I can take it from here."

Both nodded, before setting off. As Mesa and Volt began to walk with Winter, Mesa said, "You know, beneath such an icy frame, I wasn't expecting to see a warm heart."

Volt laughed silently. "Well, she's a Specialist, she obviously loves her homeland. Anyway... this new planet..." Volt lowered her voice. "Remnant's been a lot more interesting than any of us would think of, hasn't it, March?"

"Of course, never seen such a unique civilization like this, actually, Zanara...All the stuff they have is fascinating. They even have people who can fight like us. That reminds me though..." Mesa's tone grew slightly grim. "When do you reckon the Grineer or Corpus will find out about Remnant?"

Volt shook her head. "Sooner or later, and they probably will very soon. If we can see Remnant on the Starchart, they can too. It's only a matter of time before we have to defend this oblivious planet from the power-hungry Grineer or greedy Corpus... I'd prefer if the natives didn't know about this. I want the intruders dispatched ASAP."

"What are you two going on about?" Winter's voice startled both Volt and Mesa.

There were a few errs, which were cut short when Winter told them to wait so she could get their Dust reward ready.

* * *

"Welcome back to the Vale News Network! I'm Lisa Lavender, here to bring you what is possibly one of today's most surprising bit of news..."

"Things are getting weirder every day." Ruby commented as her team sat watching the TV news segment.

"As you all may know, Gridlock Outpost, a crucial set-up on the Atlesian side of the Vale-Atlas border," Lisa continued. "was overrun by Grimm a month ago. However, it was recently retaken by Atlesian military, with the assistance of four mysterious Huntsmen and Huntresses..."

The segment went on to detail the story of Gridlock Outpost leading up to it's recapture by the Atlesian army, short and brief accounts from soldiers on site (many refused to comment about the Hunters who had exterminated the outpost by themselves) and even an interview with Atlesian Specialist Winter Schnee herself.

"Oh goody," Weiss said when she saw this. "She must be pleased."

The most important thing, however, was the mystery that shrouded the four Hunters who had performed the dangerous task of clearing out Gridlock Outpost on their own. "We cannot tell you much about these four Hunters, Miss Lavender," Winter said during the interview. "for we do not have much information on them either."

"I don't know about you guys," Blake said after Ruby had turned off the TV. "but I'm willing to bet that one of them was the electric Hunter who showed up at Siren Harbor."

* * *

Gridlock Outpost may have been reclaimed, but Volt's job on this world wasn't finished yet. Integrating the Dust they'd obtained would come later. Sighing, she set a course for her next landmark: Beacon Academy, where apparently, young Huntsmen and Huntresses were trained.

"Mesa was right," Volt thought to herself as the Liset descended upon the outskirts of Beacon. "This planet is insane. I've never seen such a unique civilization before...maybe it's because of not having ever seen the rest of the Origin System that their lifestyle is so radically different. They have similar powers, though...that's something."

After landing, Volt quickly switched into Operator form, and no sooner had the Liset touched down before Zanara was watching it take off again. Eventually, she set off for Beacon Academy, just about a hundred metres' walk away.

* * *

Simply put, there was much to marvel at. Zanara thought the large tower protruding from the middle of the area looked so much like...well, she'd never made the connection before, but the revelation that Beacon Academy's name having both metaphorical and literal meaning surprised and amused her.

She imagined what it would be like to be a student here...studying how to fight...being taught about the strategies used in battle...she would very much like and lessons about history or geography indeed. Knowledge is power, Zanara supposed.

Problem was, she was too focused on taking all this in, and then some.

* * *

"Ruby, look out!" Weiss cried in alarm.

"Wha-OW!" Ruby fell on the ground, having collided with someone. In public, too... She didn't know what was hurt worse, her body or her dignity.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so terribly sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going..." Ruby babbled, as she looked up at the person she'd bumped into. It was a young-looking girl with an appearance that suggested an age of around early-twenties, wearing a dark blue jumpsuit, and having an odd device attached to her right hand.

"No, no, it's my fault," She replied quickly. " _I_ wasn't looking the right way." The girl got up, and extended a hand towards Ruby. "Here, get up."

Weiss, Blake and Yang quickly gathered around, but this made the girl suddenly look uncomfortable. "Erm...I'm looking for the headmaster's office...could you give me a few pointers?"

"That girl was kind of weird." Weiss said after they'd parted ways. "We've never seen her before."

"Everything's weird these days." Blake added.

* * *

As she took the elevator ride up to the headmaster's office, Zanara swore that she would never bump into another native while in disguise again. This may not be the kind of clumsiness that gets one killed in battle, but it still hurts.

As Zanara stepped out of the elevator, she was greeted by a room filled with cogs, contraptions and stationary machinery - and on the other side of the office, Professor Ozpin, standing and looking out of the window behind his desk.

"Uh...ahem." Zanara cleared her throat, approaching him. Ozpin flinched, but did not show any other signs of surprise as he turned around.

"Oh, well, hello there..." He greeted Zanara. "I have not seen you around these parts before. In fact...I don't think anyone here has ever met you formally, have they?

Zanara remained still, but inside she was having a small panic, and felt unpleasantly shocked. This man, Ozpin, caught on with her identity. He apparently knew she wasn't a Remnant native.

"How...do you know?" She asked sternly, her face remaining calm.

"It's a surprise to me as well..." Ozpin said as he slowly walked towards his desk. "Your power does not seem to exhibit the same kind of influence that a normal Huntsman or Huntress does. And...mind your appearance, that may as well be a giveaway."

Zanara looked at herself, then back. "Well...you are Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy?"

"Yes, that would be me. Come, have a seat, child."

Zanara was about to sit down on the chair opposite to Ozpin when her radio earpiece rang.

* * *

A day ago...

"Oh, hello! We meet again, Winter!"

The Atlesian Specialist in question was in the middle of inspecting a recently retaken warehouse from the White Fang when she was startled, once again, by Mesa.

"Gah, what-?" Winter looked around after regaining her composure, quickly noticing Mesa. "Ah, it's you again."

"What can I say?" Mesa said after dropping down from the window where she was perched. "Missed our good old times, back when we were chatting at that chilly room. Guess we've already bonded, haven't we?"

"Don't..." Winter started again, but stopped herself, sighing. "Look, I am here on a mission to check over this warehouse, which was occupied by the White Fang terrorist group before we liberated it. So..."

"So you need help." Mesa replied, and judging by the look on Winter's face, this was not the expected answer. "Two's always better than one. And, you told your soldiers not to shoot me if I ever asked to meet you again, have you?"

"Er...yes, of course."

"Then why did the first two soldiers I come in contact with fire at me? After I'd finished explaining to them, no less!"

"Wait, what?" Unsurprisingly, Winter was shocked at this news. "Are you sure?"

"Damned sure." Mesa said, her voice growing serious. "Made a lot of noise outgunning them, but it was fast. Definitely not Atlesian army standard. You sure you picked the right people to escort you?"

"I...Well, let's just get this over with, shall we? I wouldn't want to stay here any longer, now that I've heard that."

Winter and Mesa soon arrived at a new area of the warehouse, where intel suggested that highly important data and large amounts of resource were stored - the centre of the storage. The soldiers guarding the entrance looked at both of them for a bit longer than usual, but Winter didn't seem to mind."

"So, tell me, Mesa, what did your people do after Gridlock?" Winter asked.

"Other stuff. We didn't go on any news or anything, we don't like to be famous..." Mesa trailed off suddenly. The 4 blue dots on her minimap, portraying the guards they'd just passed, had turned red. She could barely make out a small part of the conversation they were having.

" _If the other one resists, kill her as well...no witnesses."_

"I bloody knew it." Mesa thought to her self as she spun around to meet her would-be assailants. "Winter, GET DOWN!" She yelled, performing a swipe in the air with her hand, and a yellow glowing line appeared, which launched itself at the traitors' guns just as they prepared to fire.

"What-? I can't shoot!" One of the soldiers yelled, trying desperately to pull the trigger - but no bullets were coming out. Mesa beat them to the first shot, drawing her Twin Viper Wraith with incredible speed and gunning down the four soldiers before they could register what was happening.

"Wha...Mesa, what's going on?" Winter asked, her eyes wide, as she made to draw her own sword as well.

"It's an ambush. " The Tenno replied calmly. "This place still belongs to the White Fang. We'll have to fight our way out."

* * *

"They're right there! Get them-GAAAH!"

Mesa and Winter managed to muscle their way to the warehouse exterior, encountering heavy resistance along the way.

"This is the first time I've truly seen you fight, Mesa," Winter said as the duo took cover from incoming fire. "and I'll be honest, I would NOT like to face you in a gunfight."

"Thanks." Mesa replied, reloading her Twin Vipers. "You're pretty chill too. Both metaphorically and literally - I mean, what is _that?_ " She indicated the Boarbatusk that was charging down the White Fang shooters.

"Family secret." Winter said, smiling vaguely.

The Huntress duo mowed down the White Fang ambush fairly easily, and when another wave arrived, Mesa, in pure Volt fashion, muttered, "Ah, screw this", and quickly annihilated them.

"You know, Mesa," Winter said as her reinforcements finally arrived. "You're a really interesting friend to have. But...there's just so much I don't know about you..."

"OK, I get it." Mesa interrupted her, walking away. "You know what? Go to Wyvern Cliff, 5 o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow, all by yourself. If you do that, I'll meet you to try and answer any questions you might have."

* * *

"I'm here."

Mesa turned away from the view - a rather decent one at that, you never really saw as much nature unless you went to Earth. "Well, you turned up, Winter. I'm kinda surprised, actually."

"I'm a woman of my word." Winter said. "Now...there is just...one thing I want to know. Just one question, really."

"I'm all ears."

"Well...where are you from, actually? I've never seen the likes of you before, and I don't think anyone else has."

There was an eerie silence that followed these words.

"Uh...excuse me." Mesa said quickly, turning around. "Zanara, we've got a problem."

* * *

"Oh, uh...if you'll excuse me...Professor." Zanara said, her hand going up to her earpiece.

Ozpin replied with a smile. "Oh, go ahead, we have a lot of time."

Zanara turned around. "What is it, March?"

"I've been talking to Winter, and she just asked me the Question."

"The Question?"

"Yeah, that Question. What should I do?"

Zanara thought hard. She couldn't afford to risk revealing their identity as outworlders, but Winter proved to be a trustworthy person...

"Answer her. Tell her the truth, March."

"Oh, all right. Should I tell her not to spill it?"

"Of course."

"Thanks. Mesa out."

After March disconnected, Zanara turned back to Ozpin. "Alright, I'm done. What was it that you were going to ask me?"

"Well, I was wondering where you come from, truly. From the looks of it, you don't seem to be a native."

Zanara gulped. She'd just guided another Tenno on how to reply to the Question, and now she had to answer it herself. Now, Ozpin was, from what she could gather, very powerful, and she figured that with such an important role as the headmaster of one of the most prestigious Hunter training academies, he could definitely keep a secret or two. So Zanara decided to risk it.

"If you really want to know, Professor," Zanara said. "then I must ask of you something. Please, do not tell anyone else about what I am about to tell you."

Ozpin straightened up and looked Zanara in the eye. "Very well. You can fully trust me."

Zanara took a deep breath...

At the same time, without knowing it, Volt and Mesa had uttered the same 4 words: "I'm not from Remnant."

* * *

"Ordis, call down the Liset. I'm extracting." Mesa muttered quickly after answering the Question.

The revelation that Mesa was not from this world seemed to shake Winter hard, as she was finding it hard to find words. "You...what...you're...not from Remnant? Are...are you touched in the head?!"

"No, I am not mad, Winter," Mesa said firmly. "and, please, for my sake. do NOT tell anyone else about this. What we discussed here, stays here. Got it?"

Winter could only nod.

"OK, good. The truth is Winter, I'm from another world. So are my friends, the ones you met at Gridlock Outpost. Your planet, Remnant, is still part of a greater battle, one that has left you untouched until now."

There was suddenly the sound of the jet engine. Hearing it, Mesa stepped slowly backward, until she was at the edge of the snowy cliff.

Winter, unsurprisingly, was having much difficulty taking this in. "What? What greater battle? Mesa, wait!" She called after Mesa, who had just fallen off the cliff.

The Atlesian Specialist sprinted over to the edge herself, to be greeted by the bottom of a triangular aircraft, Mesa hanging from a pod in it's centre.

"Everything you just heard is real, Winter. I must go now, but...I am sure we will meet again." Mesa said, planting her left hand, her last free limb, into the pod. "Goodbye."

"Is this...what is that...Wait! I have so many questions!" Winter shouted desperately.

The Liset simply turned towards the sky, and soon disappeared off to the distance in a warp, leaving Winter Schnee to stand alone on Wyvern Cliff, almost impossibly trying to fathom what she had just heard.

* * *

 **Ah, finally. I should really stick to LibreOffice next time. It's so easy when using a browser to accidentally click some button to go to another page, and end up losing at least half a thousand words' worth of work. _THRICE._**

 **On the flip side though, that was one hell of a chapter. I mean, 4k words, that's got to be a personal record now. Also,I'd like to announce that I am now going to pay full attention to Within The System (Bring A World Alive is on hiatus for now, because of writer's block), so expect a new chapter very soon.**

 **As always, I'd highly appreciate it if you left a review.**

 **Stay tuned!**


	4. Grineer Offensive

**I suppose I could speed things up a bit now, with so much of my attention diverted to Within The System. Anyway, in this chapter the Tenno fight off the Grineer from Remnant...and then some.**

 **I've added a full warning of spoilers at the beginning of the first chapter (major spoilers for any main quest before Apostasy Prologue, and very minor spoilers for The Sacrifice).**

 **I have nothing else to say other than...Enjoy!**

* * *

"So," Ozpin said after hearing Zanara's full story. "It appears that we are part of a still far greater war, one that we seem to have been secluded from for decades...centuries even."

In the long period of time Zanara had just spent with Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, she had told them about the contents of the Origin System, the fundamentals of the Grineer, Corpus and Infested, the current position of Remnant and a little bit about her own kind as well.

"Well..." Ozpin stood up. "This has been most intriguing. Please, pardon me if I am unable to remember all you said, for this is a lot to take in. I will look into this further, if I possibly can. Is there anything else?"

Zanara got to her feet as well. "There is one thing, Professor. The...hisory of Remnant, and other subjects of the sort, have been a compelling matter of study to me ever since I landed on Remnant. I was wondering if… if I could make myself home here, if only for a brief period of time?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. Zanara knew what he was thinking, and couldn't blame him for it. After all, if you were the headmaster of a school that trained kids to become guardians of mankind, and all of a sudden this extraterrestrial human walks in and demands to be educated here, would you be wary? Of course you would.

"I'll...try not to interfere with matters too much." She added. "But, I just need some more time to myself than usual – I'm fighting a much bigger war, after all."

After an uncomfortable period of silence, Ozpin finally spoke up. "Very well. I will try to make arrangements. I suppose this will be a first in history...a part-time student in a Hunter academy."

"Thank you, Headmaster- OK, now what?!" Zanara was interrupted by yet another ring in her radio earpiece. This time, it was Ordis.

"Operator, pardon the interruption, but Mag and Ivara have reported in with an issue."

"What issue, Ordis?"

"A...a Grineer Galleon-sized issue, Operator."

"Ah, goody. They finally came. Hang on..." Zanara turned around to face Ozpin again. "I'm terribly sorry, Professor, but I've just been informed of a possible invasion that may concern the...future of this planet. I have to go deal with it right now. We'll discuss this later, Professor."

"Yes, I believe we should." The headmaster sat back down. "More time to think, I suppose, about what you have said...tell me, though, before you go: who are these intruders that you have mentioned?"

"Uh...have I told you about the Grineer, Professor?"

"Ah, yes, I understand now. Go, then, none of us want to be slaves, do we?"

"Goodbye, Professor Ozpin." Zanara said, before hurrying over to the elevator. As the doors opened, out stepped a figure Zanara recognized – the red-hooded girl she had bumped into earlier. Both exchanged brief looks, before the Operator swiftly moved inside the elevator, leaving Ruby Rose to stand in the headmaster's office.

* * *

"Alright, guys, that's the reactor sabotaged!" Mag called out to her allies Volt and Ivara, as they stood around the now flaming Grineer Galleon Reactor. "Final objective: get to extraction before we all get blown to kingdom come!"

"Well said, Feira, let's go!" Volt responded, being the first to move towards the extraction point, her fellow Tenno following suit.

"Zanara? Do you have time to answer a question or two?" Ivara asked as they ran, with the archer Tenno planting an arrow into a Grineer Lancer's face.

"Go ahead, Lucy, we've got a full three minutes and the extraction point's only one-and-a-half hundred meters away."

"Just asking – how's the Dust integration going?"

"Well, about that..." Volt said as she gunned down a Trooper. "After we experimented with the upgrades, March and I took to the Simulacrum to see how effective it worked. It went something like this..."

* * *

"Those are really tough Corrupted Heavy Gunners, Zanara..." Mesa muttered, her Operator face in awe. "...and your Nikana just sliced through them like rubber."

The Dust upgrades had proven particularly effective. Volt had modified her Nikana to use the yellow Dust – Lightning, apparently – to amplify the Electric damage her Dragon Nikana was already dealing. The results, both metaphorically and literally, were quite shocking.

"Too bad this stuff's limited right now." Volt commented as she sheathed her Nikana, jumping up the the options platform. "We'd obliterate the Grineer, Corpus and Infested even harder than we already are."

"Let me try..." Mesa said, spawning a group of Corrupted Lancers. "I went for a combo of Fire and Electric Dust – that's Radiation damage, I think, which is also what I normally use on my Twin Vipers. Alright, here we go."

Mesa leapt down, drew her Twin Viper Wraith, and began to unload bullets on the simulated Corrupted Lancers, who all fell in mere seconds.

"Amazing!" Volt exclaimed. "This isn't even the fully developed process...wait 'till we properly integrate this Dust thing into our weapons..."

* * *

"So, yeah. Bottom line is, Dust is extremely effective, PROVIDED it actually survives the trip." Volt concluded as her cell reached the extraction point.

"What do you mean?" Mag asked.

"Well, here's the problem." It was Ivara who answered. "Dust starts to disintegrate the moment it leaves Remnant's atmosphere. I learned that the hard way, sneaking out a small box of Dust from a heavily guarded warehouse only to find it empty when I got back. We only managed to get that supply back thanks to a special barrier in the box that we created using an...air device, I'll call it."

"That kind of device is hard to make," Volt continued. "so we can't really afford to frequently make Dust recovery trips. We have to do it all in one shot. Alright, guys, I'll see you back on the Orbiter."

* * *

"The sabotage was very successful, Operator," Ordis reported once Volt had returned to the Orbiter. "The Grineer spacecraft is no longer working properly, and is predicted to explode soon. However, I have detected what appears to be several landing pods launched off the ship a few minutes after the sabotage, filled with Grineer units and bound for Remnant."

"Sounds like a last resort." Volt said, then turned to the Comms screen displaying Mag and Ivara. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Yeah." Both replied. "How are we going to deal with them?" Ivara asked.

"Ordis, can you try to give me an estimated landing spot for each pod?" Volt requested.

"Calculating...Operator, there are 8 pods in total. 3 seem to be headed for cities and military outposts within Atlas."

"I'll have Mesa ask her friend Winter to shoot those down. What about the others?"

"1 is diving towards the ocean. 3 more are headed to locations heavily populated by Grimm, and far away from civilization."

"Knowing the Grineer, they'll probably get mauled or eaten by all the Grimm." Mag remarked.

"The last one, however, deserves your attention. It has been calculated to touch down within the location known as Emerald Forest-"

"That place is dangerously close to Beacon Academy." Volt said suddenly, sounding alarmed. "I'm headed down there. Mag, Ivara, you're dismissed, but please do try to keep an eye out. Ordis, plot me a course to the Grineer landing zone."

* * *

"Team RWBY said the fighting happened here, right?"

"These trees still have marks. I think this is the spot."

A few days after the original commotion that had occurred in Emerald Forest, it was now team JNPR's turn to investigate. Well, technically, they'd volunteered themselves, against at least half of team RWBY's wishes (namely, Weiss and Blake).

"Ren, I'm hungryyyyy!" Nora bellowed. "Can we go back now?"

"Nora..." The ninja simply sighed. "You just had lunch 2 hours ago."

However, a few minutes later, all four were eager to return, having found nothing of interest that Ruby's team haven't.

It would have been a quite uneventful day if not for…

"Guys?" Jaune said, pointing to the sky. "Is...is that a shooting star?"

"No, Jaune, I think..." Pyrrha replied. "I think that's a meteor. It's headed towards us."

"It doesn't look like a meteor to me..." Ren noted. "But it looks like...guys, get down, we're danger close!"

'Damn rough landing." Commander Vorak muttered as he and his fireteam of 4 lancers and 3 troopers stepped out of the escape pod, which had landed in a forest. "Mm...well, this place reminds me of Earth. Brothers, spread out and search, see if you can find anything."

The Grineer did not have to wait long. Soon one of the Lancers heard a rustling in the bushes. He motioned...all eight Grineer stood ready to shoot at whatever emerged at them… then appeared team JNPR.

Vorak was startled, but was quick enough to motion to his fellow Grineer to hold their fire. The Hunters-in-training team seemed very shocked to see these foreign fighters as well.

Vorak cleared his throat, then adopted a friendly voice, though his mouth twisted into a smirk. "Well, what a relief to see fellow human beings on this planet! I simply thought we would meet...ravenous creatures of the hostile kind..."

"Who...who are you?" Pyrrha stuttered, trying to comprehend what she was seeing.

"Us?" The Grineer commander's wicked smile grew wider. "We are the Grineer Empire. The most important thing you must know, fellow humans, is that we come in peace! We are a force fighting for justice, here to protect this...this new planet from the bottomless greed of the Corpus Federation, the twisted abominations of the Infested, and-"

"A currently burning ship filled to the brim with heavy-duty weaponry, military forces, and orders to colonize this planet suggest otherwise."

The sudden female voice startled both Grineer and Hunter alike. "What? Who..." Vorak stuttered as he frantically looked around.

"Let's just say...a familiar figure. Hunters, these are lies. The Grineer are actually a ruthless army of clones, hell-bent on domination, and you've become yet another target. Do not trust them, for they can only be trusted to make war."

"What? H-heresy! Show yourselves, you coward!"

"I shall do so soon, but first I have a message. Tell your fellow Grineer in the afterlife, that _you shall not set foot on Remnant ever again._ "

The moment the voice was finished, there was the faint sound of gunfire, and suddenly Grineer Commander Vorak fell to the ground, two bullets implanted into his head.

The remaining Grineer rounded, quickly deciding to turn their guns on team JNPR, but whoever the voice belonged to was quick – an armored Huntress appeared, leaping from a tree and landing in front of team JNPR, and conjuring a barrier made of electricity just as the clones opened fire.

"Stay back." She said, turning to team JNPR, while drawing two pistols. "I don't want you getting yourselves killed."

The Grineer were absolutely no match for the might of the Tenno, and soon suffered the same fate as their Commander. After Volt cut down the final Lancer, she sheathed her Dragon Nikana and turned towards team JNPR, who were now watching with looks of pure awe from behind the trees.

An eerie silence filled the Forest as the Grineer bodies disintegrated.

"That...was..." Nora spoke, breaking the silence, looking as if she might burst from excitement. "...AWESOME! Where'd you get all those guns?! And all your electricity! Oh, we'd make such a good-"

"Nora!" Ren quickly hushed her down.

"Before you go, I must hear from you one thing." Volt said. "I want you to swear, by your life," She took a step forward with such a powerful aura of intimidation that team JNPR stepped back in response. "that you will _not_ breathe a word of what you have just seen. _Is that clear?_ "

Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora nodded slowly.

"Good. Well then, I'll be off. If you have any questions, please consult your headmaster." Volt said as she prepared to leave. "I...have met him before, and I am sure he will gladly answer a few of the inquiries you might have. Good day."

"Aliens fighting aliens..." Jaune said as his team returned to Beacon. "That is definitely not something you see every day."

* * *

"I'm going to have to tread carefully from now on." Volt thought. "Can't have too many people seeing me, or else someone might get a bit too curious."

"Operator, it seems that you have cleared out the Grineer presence in Vale." Ordis' voice began. "I am happy to report that the deaths of all other Grineer landing parties have been accounted for."

"Thank you, Ordis." Volt said.

"Ah, yes, Operator, Mesa would like to...have a little chat with you, if I'm putting it correctly."

"I don't mind you speaking that way. Patch me in."

Soon, the familiar voice of Mesa/March was ringing in her ear. "Hey, Zanara! So, I suppose that's the Grineer done for. Think they'll try again?"

"Not very soon, no." Volt replied. "Though I think the Corpus will want a piece for themselves...we can't rest until we've shown both factions who found Remnant first."

"Right. By the way, I heard you managed to score yourself a place in Beacon Academy. What's it like going back to school, eh?"

Volt laughed dryly. "Personally, it'll be a whole different experience for me. For once, I don't have to run around shooting or being shot at by clones or robots. I've always been waiting for that one moment of peace."

"Well, I envy you, Zanara. I could use a little R&R myself."

"Aren't you the kind of woman who blindfolds herself as a means of challenge?"

"Hey," Mesa quipped. "they don't call me the fastest guns in the stars for no reason."

"Tch. I think that's a title you gave yourself."

"Well- ah, I've got to go, they've got a Rescue alert over on Uranus. Bye!"

"I'll see you later then, March." Volt said, switching her radio back to Ordis, before realizing she'd walked almost right into the grounds of Beacon. "Damn, I walk that fast?" She said as she switched into Operator mode.

Zanara decided now was a good time to go back to Ozpin. She'd only just made it to the entrance of the tower when she spotted Ozpin chatting with a female professor.

"Ozpin, I'm not so sure about this decision of yours." She was saying. " Why would you let an...an outsider into your school?"

"Because, Glynda," Ozpin explained calmly. "If what the girl says is true, and that we are only a small fragment of a far greater war, then I will hear what she has to say, lest we all- Ah, hello, Miss Relie!" Apparently, he had noticed Zanara walking up to him.

The professor named Glynda looked up and saw the Operator as well. She did not make a move.

"I've been looking for you." Ozpin said. "I have all the necessary arrangements made for you, but first I need you to perform a simple task."

"May I ask first, Headmaster," Zanara said with a tone of disbelief. "How long _have_ you been waiting for me?"

"From the moment I saw the battle that occurred recently in Emerald Forest, Miss Relie. I must say, your skills are certainly very refined, proven especially during your fight against the armed outsiders. Also," He grinned. "Team JNPR sends their thanks."

Zanara remembered the four young Hunters she met during her brief fight against the Grineer. "Ah, well, I do stuff like that all the time." She then looked around, as if watching out for something. "Professor Ozpin-"

"Please, just Ozpin is fine." He interrupted. "I know of the large role you play in this interstellar conflict, and I intend to respect that."

"All right, well... I do not exactly feel comfortable talking out in the open here, so I suggest we go up to your office, where it is safer to discuss?"

"A good point." Glynda chimed in. "Oz, shall we?"

"Very well. Come..."

* * *

Team RWBY were about to head downstairs when they bumped into their friends, team JNPR.

"Oh, hey guys!" Ruby said cheerily. "We were just going to go-uh...why do you guys look like you just saw a ghost?"

"What? Oh," Jaune seemed to snap fully awake. "no, nothing's wrong, Ruby. Just...had a bit of an incident in Emerald Forest today, we're going back up to our room."

"I suppose that's fine." Yang said. "But...what kind of incident?"

Team JNPR made noises somewhere along the lines of "er". Eventually, Pyrrha said, "Oh, it's nothing - come on, we want to go back to our dorms now, don't we?" And she grabbed Jaune's wrist and hurried towards her team's dorm, accidentally dragging her team leader with her, with Ren and Nora following suit.

"Do you think they know something we don't know?" Weiss asked as her team watched their friends enter their dorm.

* * *

"An initiation?" Zanara said with a bit of surprise.

"Well, you've proven a very fine fighter indeed, Miss Relie, but I do feel that you should follow tradition, like everyone else." Ozpin said. 'Is there anything you need?"

"Just...I need a bit of time to prepare my gear. All I have in this form is my Amp (she indicated the device on her right arm), and I am so NOT going out there in my Warframe. I don't want anyone knowing that the Huntress who has been active lately is suddenly becoming a student at Beacon Academy."

"Very well, I respect that. Let's say...a week is enough?"

"Yes, that would be fine, Professor." Zanara nodded. "Time is on a larger scale out in space, and I guess it shouldn't be too hard to learn to use a few weapons in Operator form...Well, I'll go then, uh, Ozpin, unless you have anything else?"

"No, we will correspond again once you have completed your Initiation. Good luck, Miss Relie."

"Thank you, Headmaster." And Zanara left, wondering how she would learn to use a Skana or Lato in one week. But such matters would be for later. As Zanara snuck off to call down her Liset, her mind was more focused on what life in a Remnant Hunter academy would be like. She was also mildly concerned about the looming threat of the Corpus...

But none of this was what disturbed her the most. Why had Remnant been hidden for years, then suddenly appeared out of nowhere, without its' natives even knowing...?

* * *

The massive golden chamber stood proudly in the middle of the tower, its most notable feature, a portal archway, suddenly glowing into life in a vortex of yellow. The Corrupted Grimm, soldiers and Ancients paused, all turning towards the portal.

Soon, from within emerged a tan figure, with a golden device attached to her right eye, and she resembled a Tenno very much indeed. She stepped through the portal as if she was taking a breath of fresh air. The Corrupted creatures roaming the chamber all made to bow, to show their loyalty to this figure who would now be leading them.

"Ah...Remnant...it has been so long..." She muttered. One of the soldiers picked up a gun, a Soma Prime, and another retrieved a Glaive Prime. Both knelt before the figure, presenting to them what was apparently her weapons.

"Ah, yes, thank you, my loyal servants..." She said as she took her Soma and Glaive. "With these, I shall be able to complete the task I have had swirling in my mind for so long..."

That was all she knew about her existence. It was as if she lived to carry out that mission...to purge Remnant of all the filth, the unworthy denizens that now roamed it...to ensure that it was pure again...and she would be the one, the very person that the planet had called out for...the cleansing that was long overdue...by her hand...

 _Fanaticism, the Corrupted Acolyte._

* * *

 **And we're done. Woo! So there's the main antagonist for you! Who is Fanaticism? You'll find out more in the next chapter...  
**

 **Now, for a very important warning: Once Chapter 6 hits, I'm upping the rating to M. ****I feel like there isn't really much I can express with this story within the limitations of a T rating. So with the release of Chapter 6, there will be more violence. I don't know whether to go so far as straight up gore, but I'll probably, _maybe_ get there. You guys give me your thoughts, will you?**

 **One more thing.**

 **Crap. Now I've got Persona 5 stuck in my head. At this rate I might end up dropping Bring A World Alive temporarily.**

 **Stay tuned!**


	5. The Old Ones

**So, uh...This took a while.**

 **On a brighter note, HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

 **Now that tests are over, I can afford to be more active, thank god. Problem is, I'm juggling Makoto Reacts at the same time as this. And that thing's HUGE.**

 **Anyway...enjoy the long-awaited next chapter!**

* * *

"Operator, are you sure you do not intend on taking a break?" Ordis said when Volt had returned to the Orbiter, a hint of concern in his voice. "Your time on Remnant surely must have been very taxing."

"I'm fine." Volt waved it off. "I can still go."

"I detect a considerable tone of fatigue in your voice, Operator. Extended periods of time on the field is known to reduce combat efficiency. Please, do take a break."

"I-Oh, alright, fine. Ordis, bring up Navigation for me, will you? I want to see the status of everything."

There had been a successful sabotage of a Ceres factory, the capture of an elusive Corpus informant, an assassination of a high-ranking Grineer officer on Neptune... In short, all was well in the Origin System.

Then came the call from Banshee.

"Hello, Seleia?" Volt answered. "What is it?"

"Um...Zanara, we found something on Remnant. Something _big._ " Banshee's voice had a hint of panic.

"What is it?"

"North of Atlas... There's some sort of old but familiar tower building. It was... Well, looks like someone found Remnant before we did, and they've been dormant before, but now...I guess someone we might know wants revenge for what happened during the Old War."

Eerie silence fell upon Zanara's end of the transmission.

"Say that again, Seleia. Say that again." She shook her head in disbelief.

"I...Well, Zanara... It looks to us like an active Orokin Tower."

* * *

Against Ordis' wishes, Zanara was returning to the fray. However, she surprisingly did not display any more signs of fatigue. On the contrary, the news about the Orokin Tower actually seemed to reinvigorate her, as she pitched into the Earth-like elements of Planet Remnant once again.

" _I have to see this for myself."_

Those words, those familiar words from not so long ago, came back to Volt. She was essentially repeating them, engaging herself in a search of knowledge, the same words she said when Remnant first came into view. Was the hidden planet becoming an obsession, a manic quest, a desperate attempt to adapt quickly?

Maybe, she thought. Maybe not.

* * *

The Tower was situated far north, all the way near the North Pole, a long way from native civilization. Atlas military had dispatched several squads to explore this uncharted territory, where relentless cold reigned supreme.

None ever came back.

Raw cold battered Volt as she glimpsed the Orokin Tower from afar. Its golden adornments made it stand out among the white frost of the Remnant North Pole. But the most unusual thing, Volt noted, was that there was a faint, blinking, short ray of yellow light emanating from the top of the Tower, making it seem taller and larger than it already was.

"Active." That's what Banshee said. Volt knew that whatever force inhabited the Tower would only get stronger with time.

Then a curious sight at the bottom of the golden structure caught her eye - a small fraction of said force. From the gates of the Tower emerged a small squadron of fighters. All with a golden hue around their bodies, and all with that familiar yellow device around their right eye.

Volt zoomed her Farsight Observer **(think binoculars)** in for a closer look. The composition - likely an expedition - included two Grimm Beowolves, 7 apparent Atlesian soldiers, and...

 _A Huntsman_. All Corrupted. Poor souls.

"Ordis, are you seeing this?" Volt whispered frantically.

"Yes, Operator. It seems the mastermind of this holds great power. Underestimating them would be a deadly mistake."

"I know." Volt glanced at the Corrupted expedition again. She decided she was going to put them out of their misery, and maybe get some information while at it.

Shaking her head, she prepared her Dex Sybaris.

* * *

"What the hell-?" The sudden fall of one soldier startled the Corrupted. Sharing his fate was a Beowolf and 3 other Atlesian soldiers, before they finally noticed their assailant perched upon a cliff, and opened fire.

The Corrupted Huntsman, who was wielding a trident, pulled the tip back and bent the handle, turning it into a crossbow. Of course, Volt thought. The natives were always so creative with their weapons, which gave them an edge utility-wise because they wouldn't have to waste time swapping between guns and melee weapons like the Tenno.

Drawing her Akbolto, she vaulted and shot down another two soldiers. The surviving Beowolf took an arrow as well, but stood firm. Volt rolled upon landing, swiftly avoiding shots and drawing her Nikana to slash across another Corrupted soldier. The Beowolf lunged at her, but missed, and the Tenno retaliated with an overhead slash which severed the Corrupted Grimm's head.

"It's a shame, really..." Volt thought in her head as she stared down her Huntsman opponent. "All these good men and women, their talents wasted in the name of an ancient empire's conquests instead of being used to save the world..."

Then she watched as the Huntsman conjured orange energy missiles and launched them at her, forcing her to roll out of harm's way.

"Arcane, huh?" Volt muttered to herself. "Reminds me of Nova." And she drew her Akbolto, and steeled herself for what she expected would be a tough fight.

And a tough fight it was, though not to a degree that the Tenno was expecting. Being Corrupted wore down on your original strength and powers, overwhelming it with the power of the Void - something that the Tenno were used to dealing with. Volt knew that a fully stable Hunter would be harder to take down than a Corrupted one.

Still, she had to admit that even while Corrupted, the Huntsman had brains. Many of her Akbolto and Sybaris shots were deflected by either shots from his own weapon, Arcane missiles or a barrier. Though she much preferred the latter two - Semblance use was known to drain one's Aura. Nevertheless, Volt more often attacked with her Nikana, relying on superior swordsmanship and agility to fight around the Corrupted Huntsman's reach, and never hesitated to throw in a Shock or two whenever she spotted a major opening.

At last, an opportunity presented itself. Volt noticed that the Huntsman did not guard his left flank as much when engaging in close combat. Initiating with shots from her Sybaris, she stopped halfway through her clip, drew her Nikana and dashed forth for an overhead slash, tilting slightly to her left. She let the Corrupted Huntsman parry, then when blade and trident clashed, she spun her Nikana backwards into a backhand position, aimed a kick at his ankle, and thrust her hand forward, adding in a shock with her other hand for good measure.

The plan was successful, and her Corrupted opponent staggered and fell, dropping his weapon. Volt moved in for the kill, but then remembered that if the yellow Orokin device on a humanoid Corrupted enemy were to be ripped off, one of two things would happen: Either the shock would kill them, or if their resolve and constitution were high enough, they would survive, losing all of their Corruption and recovering their former selves.

It was worth a try. Better than outright killing them, she supposed.

She stepped forth, grabbed the device and pulled with all her might. It was _really_ stuck. Unfortunately, before she could pull it out, the Huntsman blasted her away, and managed to retrieve his trident just as she recovered.

 _Dammit. Round two._

Rolling to her right, Volt swiftly drew her Akbolto and fired. The first few shots missed - a couple bolts afterwards tagged him, and the rest of her burst either missed again or was deflected by arcane missiles.

Surveying the battlefield, she spotted another way to weaken the Corrupted Huntsman - an almost-loose block of ice. If she could lure her opponent there, then drop it somehow, then bingo.

She decided to stay at range, so she dashed to near where the ice block would fall, and brandished her Sybaris. Her plan was to outmatch him in the gun game with use of her Electric Barrier, forcing him to get up close and around her. Even arcane projectiles could not touch her behind that shield.

And the plan worked. After several arrows, arcane missiles and a lot of bullets, the Huntsman pushed his weapon back into trident form and charged. Volt immediately dropped her Barrier, rolled sideways and shot the few links of fragile ice keeping the block from falling, just as the Huntsman's momentum carried him exactly where she wanted.

The block shattered into miniscule pieces upon impact, dazing the Corrupted Huntsman heavily and causing him to drop his weapon again. Volt pounced, ready for another attempt to pull the Orokin device off.

Then she remembered why she attacked the expedition in the first place, as the Hunter was tackled to the ground.

"Who are you fighting for?" Volt growled over the cold wind of the North Pole.

"I do not answer to traitors of the Empire!" The Huntsman spat.

 _Great. Orokins and their whole loyalty thing._ Not that she denied the Tenno betraying the Orokin, but this was infuriating.

"You may have won this battle, _Tenno_ ," He continued. "But our master will find you, and she will crush you!"

 _Master?_

Volt had enough. She grasped the Orokin device on the Huntsman's right eye and yanked it hard.

It came off with a flash, and a blast that sent Volt flying backwards. The battle had been exhausting, and as she slowly got back up, she realized how truly deprived of rest she was.

She walked over to the Huntsman's now motionless corpse, and checked his pulse.

Nothing. _Damn._

Volt stood up, and looked around. The Orokin Tower was too far off to be noticeable. She called her Liset to pick her up, and began to walk away, but stopped. She looked back at the dead body of her former opponent.

He was Corrupted, after all. Perhaps before that, as a Huntsman, he did...good things. Had good intentions.

Had a good life.

The least Volt could do for this poor soul who had fallen prey to the Void, was give him a proper burial.

He couldn't bring him all the way back to civilization, or else risk people getting curious about the Tower. No, this very place, the North Pole who have to do.

"Operator, what are you doing?" Ordis said when the Liset landed nearby.

"Paying my respects." Volt replied, with a voice that sounded...sad,

A truly sad Tenno was a very rare sight to behold. Yet, something connected her to the natives of Remnant more than any other present civilization...

* * *

The Initation was still quite a ways off, and Zanara needed quite a rest anyway. Problem was, that meant she couldn't go exploring the Orokin Tower.

Not that she was going to actually do it anyway. There was no way in hell she was going to barge in there, and unfortunately stealth is not one of Volt's strongest suits.

Luckily, she knew someone who could do it in her stead.

* * *

Ivara perched upon the balcony overlooking the hall. A lot of Corrupted were there as well, perhaps waiting for someone. But who?

That question was immediately answered when a figure, with armor that reminded her of Valkyr, and an odd helmet that looked like it came from an Orokin civilization.

Wait. _That can't be...a Tenno, can it?...No way._

Icarus caught snatches of the conversation that this figure had with the other Corrupted, and figured out that they were going to "turn" someone. Of course. That meant Corruption.

Then she head the figure say "You two, with me." and two Corrupted Atlesian soldiers began to follow her. Ivara went back into prowl, and tailed them.

They arrived in what seemed to be a room that resembled the barracks commonly found in a Clan Dojo. Dozens upon dozens of lifepods were gathered in the room, and as Ivara crept around she noticed that many of them contained _people_.

She hid behind a row of the capsules as the Corrupted trio started talking again.

"Lucie Falcon, Semblance is Acid." One of the soldiers said as he heaved an unconscious woman out of a capsule.

"She'll be a fine asset." The figure spoke again, then glanced toward the end of the room, opposite of the entrance. "Now, pray tell me how _she_ is coming along?"

Ivara looking in her direction, and spotted a pod that caught her eye more than any other in the room. In it was a young-looking woman with brown hair.

"The Champion does not seem anywhere near ready to be converted yet, Master." The other soldier replied. "She is proving to be quite the obstacle."

 _Champion?_ That was Ivara's biggest question once the Corrupted had left the room. Slowly, she moved toward the capsule, which was decorated in a way that was rather more...grand compared to the others.

Upon inspection, she found a nameplate below the pod, as with all the others. Feeling that this was important information, she tapped her earpiece. "Ordis, take a snapshot of this for me, will you?"

"It has been done, Operator."

As she left the room herself, Ivara didn't dare imagine what would happen if this so-called Champion was indeed turned.

* * *

"Operator, you've received a new message from Ivara, also known as Operator Lucy."

Zanara wished Ordis would stop adding on the Operator name. She didn't dislike it, it just felt...unnessacary.

"Make it quick, Lucy..." She thought as she pulled up her inbox. "I have an Initiation shortly..."

The message read:

" _Hey - went and did a little scouting as you asked. There are two pictures I attached to this message, I'll explain them._

 _Okay, so there is a LOT of Corrupted in that Tower, but it's mostly native organisms, particularly Grimm. They all take orders from someone though, calls her Master, and you can see her right there on the first snapshot._

 _Now look at the second one - I took that when I was in some sort of barracks room. Apparently they're capturing Hunters and converting them to their cause, Corrupting them. This particular woman though, they're having trouble - sounds like they've been trying to get through to her for a while and haven't succeeded yet. They call her a 'Champion'. I think you should remember the name, it might come in handy later."_

Volt winced at the memory at the Corrupted Huntsman she'd faced not long ago. Shaking her head, she looked at the nameplate in the second photo.

The name of the Champion read:

 _Summer Rose._

"Something tells me this woman is going to be very important." Zanara thought as she charted a course for Beacon Academy of Remnant.

* * *

 **Sorry this chapter's really short - school started back up so I'm busy again, though not as much as before, at least. Once again, Happy New Year!**

 **And before I sign off, I would like to tell you to do what Volt did. Remember the name of the Champion. Seriously. It'll come in handy later. Also, please review, I love it when you guys review.**

 **Stay tuned!**


	6. And Deeper We Fall

**In a few months, I may make a transition from fanfiction writer to** **fiction writer. Got 3 ideas already. But for now…**

… **OK, here's the problem. I'm tired of RWBY. Volume 5 killed it hard for me, and now I'm starting to experience not writer's block, but burnout. But, I made a promise.**

 **If I don't see this one story to the end, I may as well drop my writing career.**

 **Also, remember back in chapter 4 when I said the rating was supposed to go up to M right now? Scratch that. It's gonna stay T.**

 **So here goes: the next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

"So, erm…what are we doing here?" Blake asked.

"Apparently, there's going to be a new, 'part-time' student coming in, according to Ozpin." Weiss explained. "Oum knows what 'part-time' means. But right now, she's doing her Initiation, and of course we're here to watch it."

"Don't we have better things to do?"

"Ruby insisted."

"GO, TRANSFER STUDENT!" Ruby yelled as if on cue, with the giant screen in the auditorium coming to life, showing the familiar scenery of Emerald Forest. And in the middle of the camera, was a young girl in a jumpsuit, with a pistol, a curved blade, and a device on her arm.

* * *

" _There's an artifact hidden in the ruins within Emerald Forest. Find it."_ That was Zanara's objective. This was, however, rather different. She was armed with no Warframe, but only a Lato, a Skana which she had only begun to master as an Operator, and her Void powers.

One major advantage she had was that she'd been here twice already, but of course nobody but the faculty knew that.

Zanara's minimap read, "Ruins, 121 m East."

On her way to the objective, there were several things Zanara contemplated, particularly Ivara's findings in the Orokin Tower.

Who was that Tenno-like figure? Could it be an Acolyte? No…Tenno were immune to Corruption, were they? Or…

And just who was this Summer Rose? How long, and how, had she been resisting Corruption, and why did the Tower's inhabitants call her a Champion?

Then growls were heard. Zanara spun around and spotted pairs of yellow eyes hiding in the foliage. Hands immediately gripped the Skana's hilt, and she began to count the pairs of eyes.

2…4…6…7.

She looked at her minimap. _"84 m."_

"I don't have time for this." She decided, and fired off a Void Beam, killing 4 of the 7 Beowolves. One survivor lunged, but Zanara swiftly sidestepped it and brought her blade down on its torso, killing it.

There was just one problem. The Operator's body was not cut out for direct, close quarters combat, and thus she nearly stumbled backwards after her 5th kill. Another Beowolf growled, and followed its bethren's tracks - it leapt forward, but was taken down by several rapid shots from the Lato.

The last one was nowhere to be seen. Did it flee? _Don't think so..._

Zanara spun around and met the final Grimm charging at her from the foilage. On instinct, she blasted it with a Void Beam, stopping the Grimm mid-air and dropping it on the ground with a golden hue surrounding it.

"That worked..." The Operator muttered. "Though it was a waste of energy..."

There was a loud roar from the skies that prompted Zanara to look up, but she saw nothing.

She sighed, and set off to continue towards her destination.

* * *

 _25 m._

The ruins finally came into view. In hindsight, the trek wasn't as long as it first seemed.

Zanara caught glimpse of the aforementioned artifact sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the ruins. Approaching, she noticed that it was...

"A quill?" Zanara pondered. "And on it there's some writing...'It matters not who you are.'" It took a while, but the symbolism of this peculiar object eventually set in. "Ah...I see. A quill represents the ability to rewrite destiny, in this case...and those words must refer to outsiders. Just like us. Outworlders, with the power to silently shape Remnant's fate..."

She was shaken from her thoughts by a loud, distinguished roar. Sounded too close for her comfort.

A large shadow passed by. Zanara spotted nothing as she looked up, but was weary nonetheless. A big fight was about to occur, and she knew it.

Her instincts were right - moments later a massive crash could be heard from directly behind her. Upon the clearing of the smoke, Zanara saw fully what the threat was - a large, slightly reptile-like Grimm with moderate wings and relatively small legs.

A Netherdrake, as the database called them. **(Here, I'll help you picture them. Look up Viper in Dota 2. Now replace its color scheme with that of a Grimm, and give it small legs. There.**

 **And no, this is not the Dragon you saw in V3.)**

But...there was...no.

This particular Netherdrake had a dreadfully familiar golden device stuck to its right eye.

Something was horribly wrong. Zanara grimaced.

" _What the hell are you doing here?"_

* * *

Ozpin's smile of amusement from observing the Tenno's Initiation quickly disappeared as soon as he caught sight of the Corrupted Netherdrake, replaced by a stern frown. Professor Goodwitch seemed taken aback as well.

"What...is that?"

"I do not know." Ozpin replied. "This Netherdrake looks rather unusual, and to make matters worse they are not native to Emerald Forest. We never intended to drop one into Miss Relie's path."

The Headmaster then stepped back, and pulled out his scroll to contact Zanara, as the confused and nervous whispers of the watching students filled the hall.

* * *

"A Netherdrake?" Weiss noted, surprised. "They usually don't appear in Vale, do they?"

"And what's with that thing in its eye?" Yang added. "Something's wrong here."

Even Ruby's enthusiastic cheers were halted by the sight of the Corrupted Netherdrake. "What's going on...?" She asked quietly.

* * *

"What is it?" Zanara answered the incoming call via her earpiece as soon as she found cover.

"It seems you and I have run into a major complication..." Ozpin said.

 _"I knew it._ So what do we do? I don't want to call off the Initiation for this - don't bother sending reinforcements, it'll make the Netherdrake seem more suspicious than it already is. I need it down now."

"How, then? I seem to recall that you possess a great deal more power within your Warframe...Ah. That gives me an idea."

"Hurry." Zanara frowned as a fireball from the Netherdrake slammed into the wall she was hiding behind.

"We can kill the feed. One minute. That's the absolute maximum we can give you without rousing suspicion."

"That's all I need. On my signal, I need you to cut the feed, OK?"

Solution cemented, Zanara drew her Lato, ran from cover and began firing at the Netherdrake's wings, hoping to at least ground it. But the Grimm was not as easy to hit while airborne. She needed a window.

Ah yes, the pillars. If she could get the Netherdrake to crash into them...

Zanara ran out into the middle of the ruins, dodging a fireball and returning fire with her Lato.

" _Come on, come on, come at me, you undergrown dragon..."_

At last, the Corrupted Netherdrake roared, and dived towards the Operator. Zanara Void Dashed sideways to evade, and fired a Void Beam at the Grimm's wings as it collided with ground and man-made stone, hoping to ground it.

It worked. The Beam seared a hole through the Netherdrake's right wing, rendering it useless, and killing the Corrupted Grimm's ability to fly. Zanara immediately tapped her earpiece.

"Ozpin, now!"

* * *

The broadcast of Zanara's struggle against the Netherdrake suddenly went into static, triggering mass confusion among the student audience.

"Wha-what's going on?" Ruby's eyes widened. "Why's the broadcast stopped?!"

* * *

The Corrupted Netherdrake bellowed as it tried to take off from the thick cloud of smoke that followed its crash landing, but to no avail. Then the smoke cleared, and from it emerged not a young human girl in a jumpsuit...

...but an armored Huntress.

Volt knew at once that she had no time to waste, and decided to go straight for its head to secure a fast victory. One Shock, a Speed buff, and then she drew Akbolto and unloaded.

The hapless Netherdrake struggled to move, to fly away from the ground where it was dangerous, but the damage to its wings were far too severe to be able to support the Grimm further.

The constant barrage of deadly projectiles almost never seemed to stop - Bolto arrows being swiftly replaced with Sybaris bullets as Volt circled the Netherdrake, dodging small fireballs and keeping steady aim. When the Sybaris ran out of ammo in its clip, Volt skidded to a halt, drew her Dragon Nikana and lunged.

The Corrupted Netherdrake's last roar ended abruptly - its head rolled away, dismembered, then dissipated with the rest of the Grimm body.

Volt looked at the timer on her HUD. She had _15 seconds_ to turn back into Zanara before the feed went back online.

Running into the nearest roofed corner, she quickly reentered Operator mode and prayed with all her might that her Warframe would fade back into the Liset before anyone had a chance to see it.

* * *

After a full minute of inactivity and students whispering, the screen finally got fixed, now showing the new student standing in the middle of the field, the Netherdrake no longer present. The auditorium erupted into cheers.

"...She actually did it." Yang was stunned to near silence.

"WOOHOO! Team RWBY is gonna kick butt with their latest addition!" Ruby whooped.

"I have to say, I'm rather-" Weiss commented, but paused when she realized what their leader had just said. "Hold on. 'Lastest addition'?"

A guilty smile suddenly appeared on Ruby's face. "Oh, um, I forgot to tell you guys about that..."

The very short conversation that followed ended with Ruby fleeing, being chased by Weiss screaming "RUBY ROSE, COME BACK HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"

Blake sighed, then turned to Yang, who asked, "You think she pulled something during that downtime?"

The Faunus shrugged. "The timing's way too convenient."

* * *

"So what now?" Zanara asked Ozpin as they wandered around the dormitory halls.

"Well, you'll be assigned to a team as with any other Hunter-in-training." The Headmaster explained. "Fortunately, I managed to find a group of four young girls who are willing to take you in. They're rather special individuals, too, if I do say so myself..."

Zanara shrugged. "I'm fine with that. Other Tenno like me often go in squads during missions, and we often get together to trade or duel or things like that. We're not as solitary as people might think, Headmaster."

Ozpin chuckled, then stopped. "Ah, here we are." He said, knocking on one of the doors.

It opened to reveal a young looking girl wearing red and with unusually silver eyes. "Oh, Professor Ozpin!" Ruby exclaimed. "Is she here?!"

"Yes, she is right in front of you, Miss Rose." Ozpin smiled.

It wasn't long before Weiss, Blake and Yang crowded around the door as well. Yang's eyes displayed as much curiosity as her younger sister, Weiss seemed to look at her with indifference, and Blake seemed to regard her as someone who claimed to be an ally but had unclear true intentions.

Zanara knew she had to break the ice at once. Luckily, Ozpin did it for her. "This is Zanara Relie, and she's going to be your latest team member as arranged. (It was here that Weiss shot Ruby a look of contempt.) She...can be a rather mysterious person at times, but please do be friendly with her and accept her for who she is, alright?"

The Operator raised a brow at the last part. Was he implying that she couldn't hide her identity forever?

Soon, Ozpin left the five to their own devices. And that was also when Team RWBY started peppering their new teammate with questions.

"So..." Ruby scratched her head sheepishly, then asked with all the enthusiasm the others were too familiar with, "What's your Semblance?"

"Semblance,hmm?" Zanara put her head to her chin in thought. _How best to put it?_ "I have...some control over the Void."

"The Void? What's that?" Yang asked.

"...It's hard to explain." The Tenno coughed, then tried to change the topic. "Oh yes, I won't be sleeping here every night, but I would appreciate it if you tried to save space for a futon every now and then."

"We have a lot of it down the middle of the room, so feel free." Blake answered. "Where do you sleep if not here, though?"

"...Can we not?"

Weiss shook her head at her teammates. "So apparently this is what Professor Ozpin means by 'mysterious'."

"Oh, that reminds me, we haven't introduced ourselves yet!" Ruby exclaimed. "Weiss, you go first."

"Why me?!" The heiress cried. "All right, fine, whatever you say. I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, which is something I'm not sure I should be proud of."

"Blake Belladona." The cat Faunus continued. "I'm...a Faunus, though you can't tell it right away."

"If you be racist to her I'm going to-" Yang growled, but was stopped by an elbow and a glare by Weiss. "Oh, right! I'm Yang Xiao Long, and I'm this little red reaper's older sister!"

"I'm not little!" Ruby pouted. "I drink milk! Anyway, I'm Ruby Rose, and I'm the leader of team RWBY!" She cheered. "I hope we'll all be good friends and powerful Huntresses before long!"

As the veteran members of team RWBY slowly descended into chatter among themselves, Zanara could help but chuckle. Truly unique Huntresses. She almost felt sorry for hiding who she was from these bright young women.

But something else nagged at her mind. The name of the leader...

Ruby Rose. _Ruby Rose._

 _"Where have I heard that surname before?"_

* * *

 _Ananke, Jupiter..._

"You know," Mesa said as she blasted another Crewman. "I'm surprised you still have time to do regular Tenno stuff, Zanara, what with all this Remnant trouble and everything."

"A Tenno has to keep their duties." Volt replied coolly. "Don't you dare think I'm about to use the hidden planet as an excuse to get out of saving the Origin System."

"You make it sound so dramatic." Mesa laughed. "Look, there's the target."

The red-suited Corpus man spotted the two Tenno pursuing him, and he quickly took off.

"Oh no you don't!" Volt yelled, casting Speed on both her and Mesa to give chase.

Needless to say, the Capture target didn't get very far.

"Oh, there is one question that's been bothering me for a while now." Mesa said as they neared the extraction point. "The Corpus. You think they've found out about Remnant yet?"

"Likely." Volt replied. "In fact, I think they're making a move right now. Ash told me there's a small Corpus fleet gathering outside Neptune, which is right next to Remnant."

"Well, if you're going to stop that, count me in, OK? No way in hell am I letting their greed wreck a perfectly fine planet."

"I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

All Corpus aside, Zanara found the appearance of the Corrupted Netherdrake rather surprising. Finding answers for that was what led her to join Ivara on another stakeout of the Orokin Tower.

"So the Corrupted turned a Grimm, and made it fly all the way down south to wreak havoc on Vale?" Lucy frowned beneath her Transference, "No, I think...the Corrupted may have hidden chapters across Remnant."

"That's concerning, but plausible." Volt said. "We'll have to watch closely for any other Corrupted activity outside of the North Pole. Lotus knows they might even be banding up with some other native organization opposing us..."

* * *

"Who's there?" The sound of someone falling through the roof and landing startled the White Fang patrolling the underground train station.

They turned to spot a white and golden-clad figure crouching on the floor, and immediately raised their guns, but the figure raised her hands in surrender. "I come in peace."

"State your business!" One of the WF guards demanded.

"I'd like to see your leader." The figure answered.

"Now what the Dust is going on over here?" A man in a white coat entered. "Don't tell me there's been another miniature cave-in!...Oh?"

"Ah..." The figure, Fanaticism, bowed. "You must be the person I'm looking for."

* * *

 **That's it for Chapter 6! Zanara/Volt has officially joined Beacon Academy as part of team RWBY, the Corpus are gearing up to attack Remnant, and Fanaticism has decided to strike up an alliance with Cinder and co., which will NOT bode well for everyone else! We're only just getting started...**

 **Stay tuned!**


End file.
